Since the first edition of its fellowship competition in 1989 in Paris, which was won at the time by the young Martin Margiela, ANDAM (Association Nationale pour le Développement des Arts de la Mode) has gone on to discover a great many emerging talents, establishing itself in the fashion world as a respected arbiter of contemporary design. Just to name a few more Viktor & Rolf won the prize in 1994, Bless in 1999, Bernhard Willhelm in 2005, and more lately a British vague with Gareth Pugh in 2008 and Giles in 2009.

Hannelore Knuts photographed by Jean François Lepage

2009 is also the year ANDAM is celebrating its twentieth anniversary. To underline the event Nathalie Dufour, director and founder of ANDAM, accompanied by the clever graphic designer Pierre François Letué, together came across the idea of editing a book that relates the history of ANDAM’s laureates through twenty years of fashion. Published by Naïves, writen by fashion historian Florence Müller, and illustrated by Jean-François Lepage’s photographs of laureates’ collections, the book, titled Modernes, recalls with accuracy and candor how in twenty years the industry of fashion has evolved. Indeed in the 90’s ANDAM’s main goal was to support emerging designers, as today it is there to launch independant brands with a 160 000 euro prize and help them to face a global market.